God's Calendar - The Seven Feasts of the Lord

All of us are captives of time. Day by day, and hour by hour, we look at our watches and our clocks, or we consult the calendar. We plan for the future, we set dates. Many of us carry date books to help us remember appointments or special days. All of us are captives of time.

But God is not shackled by time. God is eternal. God lives above time. To God, a thousand years is as one day, and one day is a thousand years. However, God does have a calendar, and it is important that you and I understand God’s calendar. Because when you understand God’s calendar, you know what God is doing in this world, and you know what is really important in life and what you and I should be doing.

God’s calendar was given originally to the Jewish nation, and it’s found in Leviticus 23. In that chapter, Leviticus 23, you’ll find a listing of seven very special events that took place every year in the nation of Israel. These are called the seven feasts of Jehovah, and they make up God’s calendar.

Now we’re going to study these feasts, and we’re doing so for several reasons. First of all, our God is a God of order. He does all things decently and in order, and God has planned what is going to take place. We don’t have all the details, of course, but the general scope of God’s prophetic program is given to us in Leviticus 23.

Secondly, we shall study these feasts because they tell us what we have in Jesus Christ. You see, Leviticus 23 does not list a series of funerals or a series of fights; it lists a series of feasts. The Christian life is a feast. The Christian life means enjoying fellowship with God. In Leviticus 23, God is inviting us to be His guest and to enjoy His fellowship.

Thirdly, we shall study these feasts because they tell us what we as Christians ought to be doing in this world. There is much to enjoy in the Christian life, but there’s also much to get accomplished. And I trust that you and I, as we study these feasts together, will learn what it means to participate in the blessing of God made possible through Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 23 lists these seven feasts, and of course, they are all centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are not the feasts of man; they are the feasts of the Lord. You see, when the Lord is left out of all of this, it just becomes man’s feast; it’s not God’s feast at all.

Let’s notice now these seven feasts that are listed in Leviticus 23. Let’s get the broad scope of this chapter, and then day by day, we shall be looking at each of these feasts individually and with some degree of careful study.

The first of the feasts, of course, is Passover. Leviticus 23:4-5: "These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord's passover." This, of course, speaks of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8: Jesus Christ is our Passover, our Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed for us. Egypt is a picture of the world, Israel in Egypt a picture of condemned people in bondage to the world, and they were redeemed by the blood of the lamb. God begins this calendar with the shedding of blood. And unless you know Jesus Christ as your own Lamb, your Savior, these feasts will have no application to you. You’re missing out on all of the blessing simply because you’ve never come by way of faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, the next day after Passover and for one week—that would mean the fifteenth day to the twenty-first day—you had the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leviticus 23:6 tells us this: "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread." We’ll notice when we study this particular feast that the Jewish people not only shed the blood of the lamb and applied the blood to the doorpost, but they feasted on the lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Lamb who died for us, but He is the one who sustains us and strengthens us. The people gathered together around the lamb. It was a fellowship time. It was a time of putting away the leaven out of their homes. For the next week, they had to be sure that no leaven, yeast, was to be found anywhere in their homes. And of course, in the Bible, leaven generally is a picture of evil. It’s a picture to us that after you have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, then you put evil out of your life. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7:1 and said that we should put away from ourselves all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Now, something else was true. The day following the Sabbath day that followed Passover was the Feast of Firstfruits. And this you will find in Leviticus 23:9-14. The Feast of Firstfruits. Notice, please, the actual day now. It is the day following the Sabbath that followed Passover. Now, the Sabbath day, of course, was always the seventh day of the week. And this would mean that the Feast of Firstfruits was on the first day of the week, right? Yes, indeed. And the Feast of the Firstfruits is a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:23: Jesus Christ the firstfruits. The priest would go out into the harvest field, he would bring a sheaf of the harvest, it would be presented before the Lord, and it would be given in dedication to Him. It’s a picture that the entire harvest belonged to the Lord. The Feast of Firstfruits pictures the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then they waited for fifty days. For fifty days in between Firstfruits and Pentecost. Now Pentecost is recorded here in Leviticus 23:15-22. The word Pentecost means fifty. And there were fifty days between Firstfruits—the resurrection—and Pentecost. And of course, Pentecost is that day when the Holy Spirit came down. And so we have the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, pictured in the Feast of Pentecost. The Lord Jesus Christ went back to heaven, and then He sent the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God came at Pentecost. This is pictured at the Feast of Pentecost, which was fifty days after Firstfruits. It’s really remarkable how these Old Testament pictures dovetail so beautifully with the New Testament record.

Now there’s an interesting thing that takes place in between the Feast of Pentecost and the next feast is a gap of about three months. You’ll notice that the Feast of Trumpets comes on the first day of the seventh month. Leviticus 23:23-25. On the first day of the seventh month was the Feast of Trumpets. Now the Jewish people used trumpets to gather the assembly, to declare war, to announce that there was going to be a moving of the camp. And this speaks to us, of course, of our Lord gathering Israel together, but it also applies to us as New Testament Christians—the rapture of the church. You and I are waiting for the sound of the trumpet and the voice of the archangel when the Lord Jesus Christ shall return to gather His own.

There were three feasts that took place in the seventh month. On the first day, the Feast of Trumpets; on the tenth day, the Day of Atonement; and then from fifteen to twenty-one, the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. Now each of these three feasts in the seventh month applies specifically to Israel. We believe there is a future for the nation of Israel. We do not believe that everything that Israel today does is necessarily what ought to be done. We do not believe that we should get involved in the political ramifications of Israel, but in the spiritual realm, God has a great future for Israel. Now, the Feast of Trumpets, the gathering of the people of Israel; the Day of Atonement, the cleansing of the people of Israel; the Feast of Tabernacles, the kingdom that shall be established, and Israel shall enter into her glory.

So these three feasts in the seventh month have their specific application to Israel, but there is an application to us as believers today. Certainly, we are waiting for the Feast of Trumpets in the sense that we’re going to be called to be with the Lord. We are a sinful people. Oh, we need to have things dealt with in our lives, and this speaks to us of the judgment seat of Christ, when everything is going to be made right, when the bride of Christ will be made without spot, without wrinkle, without any stain. And then we’re going to enter into that marvelous time of glory and fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

So these seven great feasts speak to us of the spiritual history of God’s people. Passover: Jesus dies for us. Firstfruits: He is raised from the dead. The Feast of Unleavened Bread: putting away sin from our lives and feeding on the Lord Jesus. Pentecost: the coming of the Holy Spirit. Trumpets: God’s gathering of His people. Atonement: God cleansing His people. Feast of Tabernacles: God sharing His blessing in the kingdom with His people.

The declaration of independence for Israel was Passover. In Leviticus 23:5: "In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord's passover." This was a declaration for them of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It meant life because those who were not protected by the blood were slain. It meant liberty because Israel was delivered from bondage. And it meant the pursuit of happiness; they were on their way to the promised land.

We’ll turn back now to Exodus 11-12 where we have the amplification of this matter of the Passover feast. Exodus 11, we’re told that the lamb was needed. Notice, please: "The Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt." They had just gone through three days of darkness—darkness that was so thick and so great you could almost feel it. And the children of Israel still had light in their dwellings, but Egypt was under a plague of darkness. The lamb was needed because the land was in darkness. The lamb was needed because God’s people were in bondage. Over and over again in the book of Exodus, we have the bondage of Israel mentioned. You must remember that the nation of Israel in Egypt was a nation of slaves. They were not down there on vacation, they were not sightseeing; they were in bondage. And so the lamb was needed, according to Exodus 11, because there was a darkness over the land and because there was bondage.

But even more than that, death was coming. Exodus 11:4: "And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt." I should think so, because death was coming. You see, God has to condemn our first birth. The firstborn were condemned to die. God cannot accept my first birth. God rejected Cain and chose Abel. God rejected Ishmael, who was Abraham’s firstborn; He chose Isaac. God rejected Esau and chose Jacob. God rejects your first birth. Now you may be proud of your first birth. You say, "I was born into a wonderful family, I was born with a great deal of talent, I was born such a fine person," but God rejects your first birth. And God says you have to have a second birth; you must be born again. And this is brought about through faith in Jesus Christ. The lamb was needed because Israel was in bondage. The lamb was needed because death was coming to the land. And the only people who could be saved from death were those protected by the blood of the lamb.

Now in Exodus 12, the lamb was chosen. In Exodus 12:1-5: "The Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months." Now the Jewish civil calendar begins in the fall, the autumn of the year, but the Jewish religious calendar begins in the spring. This is the beginning of months. You know, when you’re born again, that’s a new beginning for you. You’re born again, you’re born into a whole new schedule, a whole new program; you enter into God’s calendar. "It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month."

The lamb was chosen. Notice, please, it was God’s Passover. This is the Lord’s Passover, not man’s. All of this was of grace. God said, "Now get a lamb. That lamb has to be without blemish. That lamb has to be the very best that you have." And of course, this speaks to us of our Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 1:19-20, we’re told that He is a Lamb without spot and without blemish. We are informed in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. They chose the lamb on the tenth day and watched it until the fourteenth day to make sure that it was perfect. When our Lord Jesus Christ was here on earth, they watched Him. They studied Him, they tested Him, they questioned Him, they even accused Him. And when it was all over, they had to admit that the Lamb was perfect. He was approved by God; God said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased." He was approved even by men. Pilate said, "I find no fault in Him." Even Judas said, "I have betrayed innocent blood." Even the demons knew that He was the Son of God, and they bore witness of the fact that He was perfect. Jesus Christ is God’s perfect Lamb.

But you’ll notice in Exodus 12:6 that the lamb was not chosen to be admired; the lamb was chosen to be slain. "And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." The lamb was needed because death was coming. The lamb was needed because Israel was in bondage. The lamb was chosen, but the lamb was slain. I hear many people talking about the life of the Lord Jesus, and His life was perfect. We have every reason to appreciate His life, to admire it, and to imitate it. But that’s not what’s going to save you. Death is coming. Darkness is upon you. You are in bondage to sin and the world and the flesh and the devil. And the only deliverance comes through the blood of the lamb. Not the life of the lamb, not the beauty of the lamb, but the death of the lamb.

Now the lamb had to be slain and the blood had to be applied. You know, a Jewish man could know all about this and his firstborn still die. My friend, your salvation is not in the strength of your faith; your salvation is in the blood. It’s not the strength of your faith; it’s the strength of the blood. And if you’ll just believe in Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ saves you from sin. God saw the blood and He said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." So the blood was for their safety, the Word was for their assurance, and they could be sure that they were safe because God said so.

I may be speaking to someone right now who says, "Oh, I’ve trusted Jesus Christ, but there are times when I just feel so afraid." Well, my friend, you don’t have to feel afraid. Regardless of how you feel, regardless of what your circumstances may be, the blood has been shed. And if you have trusted Christ, you are safe under the blood. It’s the Word of God that gives us assurance. As you believe what the Word of God says, it is applied to your heart and you have that perfect peace that comes to those who have trusted Jesus Christ.

Is the Lamb needed today? Yes, because our world is filled with darkness and bondage and death. Has the Lamb been chosen? Yes, and there’s only one Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, can you say, "He is not just a Lamb, He is not just the Lamb, He is my Lamb"? Have you made His death applicable to your own heart? In other words, have you put the blood on the door? Are you trusting Jesus Christ? The Lamb was needed and the Lamb was provided and tested, and the Lamb was slain, and the Lamb was victorious. For when the death angel came, those who were under the blood were protected. This is where it all begins. This is the beginning of months for you. You’re set free to serve God and enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of the blessing of God.